Got my GunBroker treat in the other day. A 1943 Tula SVT40.
Cleaned it all up and it looks better than described, the "frosted bore" was mostly crud - bore is not mint, but looks better than expected.
As this was my first time cleaning an SVT, I came to realization that I would not want to disassemble it in the field, no wonder Russians took it out of service so quickly. Wouldn't take much to loose something in the dirt and end up with a straight pull bolt action. Also, it is interesting to see how Soviet weapons evolved from it into SKS and AK.
I'll take it out to shoot it (with some non-corrosive) ammo once the outside temperatures and humidity die down.
Some pics:
Bookmarks